Jon A. McBride
(Captain, USN, Ret.)
NASA Astronaut (former)
Jon McBride, retired Captain in the U.S. Navy and former astronaut, is Vice President Strategic Development for Delaware North Companies, Inc., He is also a member of the Kennedy Space Center Astronaut Encounter team and does lecturing and corporate motivational presentations.
He attended West Virginia University and received a Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School. His graduate work in Human Resources Management was done at Pepperdine University in California.
Jon McBride, originally from West Virginia, began his naval service in 1965 with flight training in Pensacola, FL. While deployed to Southeast Asia, McBride flew 64 combat missions. He has logged more than 8,800 hours flying time – including 4,700 hours in jet aircraft.
Following a lengthy and successful military career as a pilot, Captain McBride was selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA in January 1978. He served as the pilot of space shuttle mission STS 41-G aboard the space shuttle Challenger in October 1984, which was the first mission to have a crew of seven. He was scheduled to fly in March 1986 as Commander of the STS 61-E crew. NASA cancelled the flight in the wake of the fatal Challenger accident in January 1986.
In July 1987 Jon McBride was assigned to NASA Headquarters in Washington to serve as Assistant Administrator for Congressional Relations with responsibility for NASA’s relationship with Congress and for providing the coordination and direction to all Headquarters and Field Center communications with Congressional support organizations. In May 1989, he retired from NASA and the Navy, in order to pursue a business career.
Captain McBride is the recipient of many special honors and awards, among which are the Legion of Merit and the Defense Superior Service Medal.
